The Newest Blogger In Town!!!!!!

I just wanted to share Ariana my 8 yr old daughter decided to start a blog. ( Imagine that!) She is always asking to read my blog and to help take photos for my blog. She wrote her first post on having her Aunt here to visit. You can read it here. I am sure that she would love the encouragement.

The Real Reason Denise Came to NY!

This is really the reason my sister came to NY! She wanted my cooking... Well then She made a few requests. First she wanted lasagna, so I made it. She made me green smoothies, yummy.... She made Ariana fall in love with mango smoothies! Then she asked if I could make Tam's Bread bowls and her Lentil Soup. Another hit, it's pictured to the left. The funny part is when I went to print the recipes, we were away from the printer and it printed what appears to be the whole blog! Tam, I will be trying ALL your recipes soon! I just put them into my binder and off I will go. I have spent the better part of the last few days in the kitchen. I do really like to cook and it is great to have someone that really appreciates my cooking. (Thanks Denise) To my surprise her boys even liked all the food I have made. I certainly did not expect that. I have made pizza crust before, and bread in the bread machine; however, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the bread bowls came out. I made a first batch and they were a little flat (I covered them with a warm cloth like I do other breads when they are rising) , not that it mattered because the first batch didn't really last until dinner and I had to make another. It is definitely something I will add to my regular cooking. When the kids like it it's even better. I can see so many different soups and stews in these bowls. I look forward to trying out more things. Oh and she(and me too) has been enjoying my home grown cucumbers, you can see them in the background of the photo. They are pretty good. We are having a good time, I have more food to plan and I better get a good nights rest, this is a really hungry crowd we have here!

This is NO tea Party!!!!

This is the closest thing we have to a tea party when Aunt Denise comes to town! They are reading Diary of a Whimpy Kid!

Did you know...Chimpanzees peel their bananas upside down

Yup... it's true. Primates peel their bananas upside down. First it gets the little nub thing off the banana and second it helps pull all the strings off much easier! Here's William and Ariana are testing it out. They thought it I was kidding, I do believe it worked.

She's Here!!!!

Hello from NY! I got Denise riding on the plasma cars! They are a lot of fun.. you can see that Scott and David are having fun in the background too!! I can't believe that she's here!!!!! Here's Denise admiring my neighbors garden! Again right in front of my neighbors house. Doesn't she look great for someone that had been traveling all day with 3 kids??? Here's a few of the kids playing Dance, Dance revolution... We had a great simple and healthy dinner..... Everyone had grilled chicken(but me I had a black bean burger) the most juiciest corn on the cob ever, grilled onion, grilled yams and grilled red potatoes, and grapes....yummy! We thought there was a lot of food but I have to say there wasn't much left when all is said and done! Then we sat in the hot tub! yeah! It's been so hot we haven't really wanted to, but now the weather has been cooling off it was great to sit in there tonight. Tomorrow we are going to the children's museum I am looking forward to it. It is really nice and I am sure that they kids will have a great time. Be on the lookout for more photos!!!!

Our Weekend...

This is Chip... He's My husbands Aunt's dog.. We went up to the mountains this weekend to see her. She just got him. He's such a cutie. We woke up in the morning and this buck was across the street. We all really enjoy seeing wildlife close up. The kids love Aunt Evelyn's bird feeders, however none of the photos turned out well so I didn't post one. I tried to take the photos from inside, because everytime I went outside to take them the birds flew away. Here's Nikolas and Ariana playing with Chip.

We stopped on the side of the road on the way home. Heres one of the views we saw. It's so beautiful up in the mountains. It's amazing that the leaves are already changing. I am sorry I didn't get any photos of that. There were no pull outs where we could take photos by them. Maybe next time.

Tooting Her Own Horn.... I mean Cast!

Well here is Ariana being her usual jokester self! Her cast is off, and now it's a horn, planter(yes she wants to put seeds in it to grow in our yard!) and the best one a whacker! She is VERY happy to have the cast off, even though her skin is dry and her arm is stiff. She still(since yesterday) hasn't extended it or bent it beyond the angle it was in the cast, however she is slowly getting mobility! She really has been a trooper. This has sure been an experience for all of us. Ariana is happy and is working hard to get the kinks out. Her goal is to have mobility before her cousins come! She wants to take them swimming at the lake!